Adventure Journal

Art Journal page

2012-02-09T20:34:00.001-06:00

I have been trying to art journal more this year.

And trying to focus on things that I love in my pages.

Hand carved stamps, for one.

and specific color combinations (like cobalt blue, green gold, pink, and quinacridone magenta-which I am almost out of!)

love the way that these turned out.

And the way the page turned out.

I especially love the way that the big heart stamp ended up.

Happy Friday!!

SuperBowl Sunday 2012

2012-02-07T21:32:00.001-06:00

Making Breakfast

Bloody Marys

Meatballs.

Cheese Dip.

Lime for the guacamole. I stopped to sketch them too. Love the shapes

Guacamole for Daddy.

The Cocoa Krispie footballs weren’t behaving so I flattened them. They were still good.

Chips. Celery. I got chastized for not putting the dip in the helmet.

Yum. Celery. Chips. Dill Dip. Cheese Sauce. Yum.

Ralph running up to the tv during Puppy Bowl. It just never gets old.

Boys. (William was boycotting).

The young couple.

My poochie.

Super Borg Weekend. I spent Saturday night watching Borg Episodes from Star Trek TNG.

Despite the ending, we enjoyed watching the game.

Happy Wednesday!

Wrestling-First Meet of 2012

2012-02-06T19:28:00.001-06:00

Waiting…I was there for an hour and I didn’t get to see him wrestle (had to take William to his voice lesson).

But my husband got some AWESOME photos.

This kid is a LOT larger than Bryan.

But Bryan has been working his butt off in practice.

And he’s been lifting with us.

So he was awesome. I am so excited for him.

Down.

And pin.

I think I see a smile on his face there.

And the arm raise for the win.

Congrats on the win, Bryan!

Keep up the hard work.

Painting and Other Things

2012-02-02T22:26:00.001-06:00

Scrapbook and Painting Organization.

I LOVE these organizers (all from Michael’s and all either 40 or 50% off). Currently the bottom right organizer holds Project Life stuff. Top container-photos. 2nd Container-Elle’s Studio Tags. 3rd container: all of the project life goodies from the Amber version. 4th container: page protectors. The container above that one holds Art Journaling materials like stencils (lots) and vintage patterns. The container on the left: Top-my ridiculous and rather out of control collection of letter stickers, 2nd: pan pastels and supplies. 3rd: adhesives. 4th: Spray inks, glitter, stickles, etc. 5th: patterned paper. 6th: Sizzix stuff.

I am totally loving the 12x12 containers though. It is sooo easy to pull one out now that I know where everything is located. And…

This is more of a hobby storage container. Stencils/sequin waste/rubons-top. 2nd: Smash books. 3rd: Watercolors. 4th: rubber stamps. 5th: Sketching supplies. Bottom: Distress ink and various inks that aren’t already out somewhere else.

Art Journal practice page.

This painting is based on and inspired by Donna Downey’s “Canvas Create” video for January. You can buy it here. Um. I LOVED it. I would have loved if it were longer, but I LOVED it. (I chose to skip the membership route and just buy it on a month by month basis-never know when the old job market might tank hard!) I bought some new brushes-one was pretty pricey, but considering the way the flower turned out-totally worth the cost. I also bought some new paint-most of it was on clearance too-so huge bonus there.

So anyway-I hated this when I first painted it. And I did decide to tone it down a little. But I kept a lot of it the way that it was (I almost painted over it with gesso so that I could start over, but decided that it would be okay).

So that it ended up like this when I got to the flower.

And now I have this. Just like Donna said-it is very very scary to paint that word over the top of something that you really like. Luckily it worked out okay.

Dream is my word for 2012, which I haven’t really talked about, but it totally fits in with this painting.

I LOVE the way that the flower turned out. LOVE it.

I love the way that the whole canvas turned out.

And the new brushes work like a charm.

Happy Friday and Happy Weekend. Good times.

Make some of your dreams come true this weekend.

Art Around the House

2012-01-30T19:08:00.001-06:00

This tag was totally inspired by a creative jumpstart by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer (her blog is here).

My husband finally hung the shelf for my paint table. Finally.

I have also been playing with Pan Pastels in my art journals when I have time.

Happy Monday!

Free-form Stitching

2012-01-28T07:23:00.001-06:00

Because I cleared a path to my sewing machine…and the temperature outside on Friday allowed me to be in the attic without freezing my tuckus off…I decided to play with some free-form stitching.

My tiny little sewing corner. With that beautiful Bliss fabric by Moda that I have only used bits and pieces of, but provides me with endless hours of color inspiration…

Practicing writing my name.

My word of the year for 2012…

And I folder that I knew would come in handy…

Happy Saturday from the Studio! I am soooo hoping to take some time to create today!

Winter Formal 2012

2012-01-24T22:39:00.001-06:00

Winter formal was Saturday night. William apparently wasn’t in the mood to go full formal, even though he has nice dress pants (cough…tuxedo pants that I hemmed…cough cough)

Anyway…I was allowed to go to his friends house with him and take photos of the group. He knows I love this.

And they are all absolutely adorable.

And when we were finished taking photos, William handed me my Jo-Totes bag and I said, “Here’s your bag, what’s your hurry?”

And I made my exit.

He said he had fun, but I don’t usually get any details from William…

Happy Wednesday!!

Green Lantern

2012-01-23T07:33:00.001-06:00

A couple weeks ago I was in Hallmark and they had the ornaments 75% off. So I bought this one.

For this guy. Who looks a lot like the Green Lantern.

At least he’s not carrying around a limited edition Green Lantern Lantern

Except I’m pretty sure that the Green Lantern didn’t wear Buffalo Bills Slippers

I like them though. They are very fitting for this guy!

Happy Monday!!

Art Journal Inspiration-January

2012-01-18T15:49:00.001-06:00

Inspiration comes in many forms. On Friday afternoon when I left work, I stopped at Target for an Artist Date.

They had polaroid film in stock.

I Loved that.

I found this journal in the dollar spot. I had to have it.

And then I used it for inspiration to create this page. I have some “grungy” letter stamps from Michaels and they mimic the journal font perfectly! And I had been wanting to play with the chevron stencil (Julie Fei-Fan Balzer for The Crafter’s Workshop) and the new bottle of red pepper Color Wash spray that I got. I love how that turned out.

This is the finished page. Lots of hearts. (Not sure what happened with the ugly heart except that I was playing around and I was like, “Oh, I should make a messy heart here.” And then I was like…Um…how do I cover this up? But I left it.

I love this sentiment. It was perfect timing too because that was how I was feeling that day.

Love.

I created this page before I left for work on Sunday, I think (all the days are mixing together).

I used gesso and the harlequin stencil from the Crafter’s Workshop. And many many different types of things that I had that were orange. I hadn’t planned it that way, but I was loving the look.

And then I found some more orange and some stencils.

And finished the page last night.

So that is pretty much what has been going on over here. Lots of work and lots of art journaling and trying to fit in some exercise too.

Happy (almost) Thursday!

Buying Books

2012-01-17T21:53:00.001-06:00

Off to buy books the day before school.

Yay! We love you and are so proud of you, Elizabeth. You can do it!

Happy First Day of College!!

Blast from the Past-80s Style

2012-01-15T09:24:00.001-06:00

A friend of Bill’s just showed him this picture on Facebook. Love it! I asked him if his jeans just happened to be rolled at the bottom too…

Enjoy!!

Wednesday Night Around the House

2012-01-14T22:11:00.001-06:00

Elizabeth and I talked a lot about Scrapbooking and Project Life on Thursday night.

She wanted a picture of Bryan, her, and I.

But Bryan disappeared. (I think Daddy was bothering him and making him fly his helicopter in Battlefield even though he probably should have been going to bed…) Anyway…Matt took the picture for us instead.

Perfect photo for Wednesday Project Life.

Happy Sunday!

First Snow of Winter 2012

2012-01-12T23:01:00.001-06:00

I borrowed an ornament from the tree that is still up…

Poor Tigger did not really enjoy the snow…or the cold.

Ralph loves it.

He is a snow dog. And he loves to annoy the other dogs by jumping around and barking at them.

Early into the snow this morning.

The view.

I took a few minutes this morning to take some photos in the freezing cold and blowing snow before I left for work.

But it looks like I will have more chances to take snow photos next week

I just hope it’s a little warmer. Love the snow, but not crazy about the 3 degrees.

Happy Friday!

Happy

2012-01-10T19:55:00.001-06:00

Today I bought myself an African Violet because I have always wanted one.

And because when I saw it, it made me happy .

And then I took a photo of myself because I was feeling goofy.

Maybe I was just a little too happy.

Happy Wednesday!

Art Journaling

2012-01-08T22:10:00.001-06:00

I finally took a day to play with my pan pastels. I have been trying to art journal more this new year, and so I pulled out my art journals.

This is my pan pastel moleskin that I use for Donna Downey’s PanPastel classes. I haven’t quite finished playing around with this page yet.

(Note: If you look closely, you can see brushmarks on the page. This is from Golden brand “Acrylic Ground for Pastels” that my Mom bought me for Christmas. I promised that I would post about it. It gives the page a lot more “tooth” than a gesso’d page which hardly absorbs any of the color at all.)

This is a page that I played with in my art journal.

(There is no gesso or acrylic ground on the art journal pages.)

I love stencils. Because I couldn’t make a real star to save my life

I hope you took some time this weekend to play.

Happy Monday!

10th Annual Celebration of “29”

2012-01-05T19:36:00.001-06:00

I took a moment this morning to capture what I’m seeing on my 39th birthday before I ran off to work.

I have been thinking a lot about this birthday. And how I can make this year special. Turning 30 didn’t bother me. I think that turning 40 will. So I am trying to plan things to do this year that make me happy and that keep me moving in the direction of my dreams.

Here’s to kicking off the 10th annual celebration of my “29th” year.

Celebrate 2012

2012-01-02T22:08:00.001-06:00

What a cutie!!

She loves rings and chasing puppies.

Merlin was concerned about his tennis ball.

Love this crowd.

Playing with Bokeh and my new lens.

This kid looks a lot like my Dad’s baby picture. Was trying to find a copy of it, but couldn’t find it for this post.

My favorite person in the whole wide world. 16 years.

Happy, slightly overtired and seriously stressed Mommy and Daddy. But they look so cute all together.

My favorite bearfan in the whole world. (We <3 a great defense!)

It was a great way to ring in the new year. I love this crowd.

Happy 2012!

Buffalo Pillow Pet

2011-12-27T22:52:00.001-06:00

The Buffalo Bills pillow pet is absolutely adorable.

I almost couldn’t wrap him up.

The recipient thought he was pretty cute too.

And he told Tigger that she should stay away from it. (She chewed a hole in my Chicago Bears pillow pet-bad dog!)

So so cute. Love it!

Happy Wednesday!

December Daily 2011-Day 25

2011-12-26T13:13:00.001-06:00

Merry Christmas!

I love Christmas. All day Sunday was spent preparing for dinner. Clearing the table and decorating it for dinner, planning what needed to go into the oven when, and taking lots and lots of photos.

Personally, my favorite part of Christmas is the family photo that I get in front of the tree every year.

A little journaling about the gifts.

The finished product. The rings barely fit and one of them keeps popping open, but they do fit .

I really really loved how simple the 6x8.5 inch pages were to work with and I love printing at home, although December Daily is really the only time of year that I print photos at home. (Well-sometimes I print some of my Week in the Life photos at home too.) I am happy to have the album completed so that I can move on to the next project.

Thanks for looking and enjoy your December Daily albums! It is my favorite project of the year and it helps to remember that the little bits of December are what really makes Christmas magical and wonderful. (Although some snow would have been nice…).

Merry Christmas and happy Day 25!!

December Daily 2011-Day 24

2011-12-26T12:55:00.001-06:00

The tree and the presents! And the story of the 24th.

Love taking a photo of the tree-the calm before the storm.

Journaling.

The rest of the journaling. And I love these glittered numbers made with Martha Stewart white gold glitter the Tim Holtz die and the Big Shot. LOVE.

Happy Day 24!

December Daily 2011-Day 23

2011-12-26T12:48:00.001-06:00

Day 23!

The gift exchange. So much fun-we’ve been doing this for years to keep the kids out of our hair as we get closer and closer and Christmas. Actually, this happened on the 22nd. But I had already made a page for the 22nd, because I knew that the night of the 22nd through the 25th was going to be quite a blur.

Elizabeth got the antlers out and started dressing up the doggies.

You can tell how thrilled they are

Mom’s tree. Love spending time at home for the holidays.

Kate told Mom that we needed to get the presents out from behind the couch and put them under the tree. I agreed, so Kate and I got the presents out and arranged them. LOVE!

Had some trouble with the family photo this year. But I love the collage.

I knew this was going to happen, but this is the BEST place to take the family photo when it is cold outside.

I actually love the sunflair. I think it makes the photo look a little old fashioned. Plus…we’re all in it. And I think my dad is smiling…?!

The other photo (the one without me in it and me shading the lens) turned out great. And technically this is day 24, but I have more photos for Day 24, so this gets included in Day 23.

But of course, I’m not in it. So…add to my list for next year-I need a lens hood.

It was hard to choose just a hand full of photos for the collage, but these were some of my favorites.

Happy Day 23!

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T13:31:00.001-06:00

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas

December Daily 2011-Day 22

2011-12-22T23:10:00.001-06:00

Day 22! OMG-I can’t believe how quickly the days are flying by!

On of my favorite songs. It has been in my head the last couple of days.

The countdown calendar on our fridge.

Finally had time to get some baking done!

Love my red and white apron that I found at an antique store. Perfect for Christmas.

Love these colors. And I’m definitely getting into the spirit.

Merry Day 22!!

December Daily 2011-Day 21

2011-12-21T22:25:00.001-06:00

I cannot believe that we are on Day 21 already. Wow! And I want to talk about something that is seriously missing from the photos this year. Baking. My Gingerbread houses are not made. They probably aren’t going to get baked this year. And I think I’m okay with that this year. I’m working more hours at work. And I’m stressed. And tired. And I think that I’m not going to enjoy making them. And normally when I run into years like this I make them on Christmas Eve. But we are celebrating Christmas early this year. And that is okay. Some things just won’t get done. The important things are done. {Except for hanging the stockings. Those will be done soon-probably tomorrow night.} And I am okay with this. There is a slim possibility that I could have time to make the gingerbread house pieces tomorrow afternoon. But if it doesn’t happen it will be okay. With that said, On to the Dec Daily!

The photo above was actually taken the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Elizabeth and I went shopping at Michael’s for Christmas-y stuff. And we had a lot of fun. And I haven’t used the photo anywhere else. And I really haven’t had a chance to take a lot of photos of Elizabeth this year, even though she is right downstairs! So I wanted to include it today.

I haven’t had a lot of time to work on Journal Your Christmas Prompts. And that is okay too. I am hoping to work on them next week. But I did peak at the prompt this morning and it was simple. Take out the camera. Take photos. Don’t change anything-take photos of the house the way that it is right now.

Lots of stuff going on! The dogs around the house, lots of cards hanging around the doorway, wrapping the last of the presents, making tags, and these adorable PJ’s for Isabella. Also took William shopping with me. He got a new sweater out of the deal-not sure how that happened…

Getting ready for Christmas. Love.

Happy Day 21. It is getting so close. And my book is getting soooo full.

December Daily 2011-Day 20

2011-12-21T20:16:00.001-06:00

I am slowly catching up! I’m posting Day 20 on the 21st! And the only reason I’m posting it on the 21st is because I couldn’t get my photos to turn out last night-hate shooting with the flash and I kept getting glare.

There was a holiday concert at the high school on Tuesday night. Love that William is in choir and that he has such a wonderful voice and that he loves it. He looked so handsome last night!

Such a cutie. Loved the concert-band, choir, meistersingers, and orchestra.

The boys onstage in their tuxedos. So handsome!

Merry Day 20!

December Daily 2011-Day 19

2011-12-20T23:28:00.001-06:00

Today I got 5 Christmas Cards in the mail! Love it! And lots of them were photo cards! Love that too!

This is absolutely adorable. And my favorite of the photos that Jake and Patricia sent. Bryan loved it too.

I also loved the photo where Isabella is wearing the antlers . But decided that I need to scan that one before I put it in the DD.

And tonight was the night that I was hemming William’s tuxedo pants. Yes. I learned how to hem. And I’m not really happy about it. They weren’t perfect, but the blind hem worked and they were the right length. So who am I to complain?

Happy Day 19!

December Daily 2011-Day 18

2011-12-20T23:21:00.001-06:00

Day 18! Photo of the kids in front of the tree! Aren’t they cute ?

Love! A good photo day!

More photos in front of the tree. And I LOVE the new December set of stamps from Ali Edwards for Technique Tuesday.

Here is the actual Digital version of the page before I printed it. Love these photos ;D I think this is my favorite page so far.

Happy Day 18!!

December Daily 2011-Day 17

2011-12-20T23:13:00.001-06:00

Finally-getting to the wrapping! This is totally waiting until the last minute for me.

Wrapping and tying and having fun. Usually I’m freezing my ass off upstairs, but it has been SO WARM this year!

All wrapped up. Elizabeth saw the picture and noted that the gifts say that they’re from Santa.

Love taking a photo of the presents all laid out!

Merry! I love these new chipboard words.

Happy Day 17!

December Daily 2011-Day 16

2011-12-19T23:28:00.001-06:00

Day 16! Which is a photo that I actually took on the 17th. I pretty much took a day off from the camera on Friday. I was a little stressed out.

Added some distress ink (iced spruce) to the edges of this card and stuck it down on the page.

I was really excited to finally get a photo of the tree in natural light! (You can tell that I took this photo after I got some wrapping done )

A little note about my to-do list and how stressed it is starting to make me. Luckily though, things are getting done and I am calming down. Now I am just really excited!

Yay-it’s almost time for Santa! And Sarah! And family and food and fun. I can’t wait!

December Daily 2011-Day 15

2011-12-19T23:19:00.001-06:00

Playing catchup

I will probably add something to one of the top rectangles, but nothing was inspiring me this evening.

The woman who took this photo at our work party thought I should add it to my “December Book.” I thought about it for a while and I decided that she was right

A photo of us in the Target parking lot on Thursday night. Running around picking up the last of the gift cards.

Thanks for looking! More to come!

Christmas Past

2011-12-17T18:14:00.001-06:00

I ran across this ornament hanging in my bedroom close to where I was wrapping presents this morning. It’s from Bryan when he was in Pre-K. He is sooo adorable. I love this!

A little behind on my December Daily, but I am really excited to have taken some time to finish my shopping and play with some tag techniques from Tim Holtz’s 12 tags.

Happy Saturday!

December Daily 2011-Day 14

2011-12-14T21:16:00.001-06:00

Day 14! Decided to just take the photo with the flash on so I could be caught up!

So the snowman was supposed to be for Tim’s Tags-Day 4. But he was just sitting out, and I love light blue with red as a color combo. So I plopped him onto the page. I guess I’ll just have to make more snowmen!

I set up the tripod and took a couple of photos of myself doing some work from home this afternoon. I can see lots of things wrong with the photo, but it is a photo that I managed to get into and the tree is involved. And there is a wreath. And lights. I’m happy

More of these awesome and easy journaling cards.

I have now eliminated everyone from the nice list except my husband and I.

And love this paper. I think it is almost time for me to write a letter to Santa too!

Happy Day 14! I’m all caught up. For now!

I have to confess something: I haven’t made a single tag. I have started several techniques for tags. But I haven’t had time to work on anything besides watching Christmas movies, taking photos, decorating, ordering presents, and working…actually I guess that is quite a lot. But I really want to make tags too.. Maybe after I wrap presents

December Daily 2011-Day 13

2011-12-14T20:53:00.001-06:00

Day 13. I didn’t have a lot of time left after I watched the Nutcracker on Tuesday night, so I chose to use some journaling cards that I bought as a 12x12 sheet of cardstock and had cut out before December 1. They worked out great here!

A short list of things to do. Get glitter everywhere? Gotcha covered…

And then…because I had some time left over…I used this template of Ali’s to put some “Around the House” photos in. These templates are awesome for fitting a lot of the little pictures you take of decorations that are in odd corners of the house.

Here it is on an 8.5 x 11 sheet for printing.

And because the woman who said, “Now kiss your wife!” who took our photo wanted me to include this in my December book. I might.

Happy Day 13!

December Daily 2011-Day 12

2011-12-14T19:47:00.001-06:00

Day 12! I tried to make this fit in the space and still show the number on the page, but I couldn’t get all of the house on the page. So I printed it out full page.

I LOVE the white lights on the house. It totally lights up the front yard. I think this is the best that our house has ever looked.

I added this journaling today-it actually pertains to today rather than the 12th, but I think that is okay. In the whole scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter and the story is still captured.

I love how simple it is to add an Elle’s studio tag and call the page done!

all the best things about Christmas!

Happy Day 12!

December Daily 2011-Day 11

2011-12-14T18:58:00.001-06:00

These are the rest of the Polaroids from Day 10 on the back side of the baseball card protector. I also made some glitter hearts using Martha’s white gold glitter and Jenni Bowlin stars. The bracket was something that I made during Shimelle’s crafty weekend and then didn’t know what to do with it. I think it works well right here!

On Sunday, my husband drove ALL over town trying to find blue lights to replace the ones that we had last year (a couple strands were burnt out this year). He finally found regular old white lights and settled for those. He had them up in time to watch most of his 3 o’clock game. Well-at least what he WANTED to watch of it.

Also-just wanted to say how much I LOVE this reindeer paper. It is so festive. Even without anything added.

Happy Day 11!

December Daily 2011-Day 10

2011-12-11T08:44:00.001-06:00

Day 10

My favorite decoration-the Christmas lights hanging in my dining room window. And a polaroid of my kitchen table decorations right now. Or some of them. My table is pretty crazy right now

Like father like son. Love these two goofballs.

I love that Bill picked out the Elf hat, but I keep finding William actually wearing it.

I already have like 4 poinsettias around the house right now. But I saw this glittery beautiful candy-cane looking one at Walmart on Saturday morning and I had to have it. And I love making two candy canes into a heart shape and taking a photo in front of the tree.

I had taken a couple of polaroids on Saturday night, but still needed one more to fill up the set of four. When I woke up, Elizabeth had taken two: one of her and Matt and one with her, Matt, and Bryan. I love it!! So perfect!

Happy Day 10!

December Daily 2011-Day 9

2011-12-11T08:29:00.001-06:00

Today I received my order of all the things that I needed to work on Tim Holtz’s Tag #3 here. I was playing around with the technique between the time that I got home from work and when we had to leave for my work Christmas party.

The embossing was off just slightly from the stamping, so in the photo it looks sort of blurry in spots, but it doesn’t show up that way.

I love the technique and now that I’m caught up on DD, I am planning to play with it more!!

We had a great time at the party! I love this photo of the two of us in front of the tree. I started carrying my little point and shoot in my purse all the time for moments just like this!

Merry Christmas celebrating!

(As you can see, we aren’t much for dressing up.

In fact…I would say that at least 90% of the engineers/project specialists that were at the party were wearing jeans ) .

Happy Day 9!

December Daily 2011-Day 8

2011-12-11T08:16:00.001-06:00

Took a crafty day on Thursday to create with some supplies. I didn’t like how it turned out, so I ended up doing something totally different.

This is like the worst handwriting ever. But that’s okay. I like the rest of the page. And it kind of shows where I’m at right now-a little rushed and trying to figure out how everything is going to work out.

Love this wreath from Tim Holtz’s first crazy sale on Etsy.

A photo of the tree that I took on Wednesday night.

And because I forget the settings for taking this every year: 50 mm lens, AV mode, f/22, ISO 400. And the exposure time was 30 seconds.

I actually had to write this down after finding the settings on Two Peas a few years ago. It is in my 2009 December Daily so that I can always go back and find it.

Happy Day 8!

December Daily 2011-Day 7

2011-12-07T22:47:00.001-06:00

There wasn’t a lot of time for creating tonight.

I love this paper, but I’m not sure that it matches the photo that I used. (Oh well )

And I may decide to stamp a sentiment on a piece of cardstock and stick it in the middle of this page.

I love the advent wreath at St. Patrick’s and I stopped to take a couple of photos on our way out.

I also took a few moments to take some photos of the Christmas tree.

I’m hoping to get some people in my photos next

Merry Day 7!

I’m so excited to be posting Day 7 ON DAY 7!! Yay!

December Daily 2011-Day 6

2011-12-07T22:33:00.001-06:00

Day 6!

I LOVE this Vintage Tim Holtz Stamp. LOVE it.

This is a photo that I actually took in November the day that I bought the comforter. When the sun was shining. And I was home. Instead of how I’m only home when it’s dark now. Ralph loves to lay on the bed. Sometimes he runs up there before we go to bed and lays down all by himself.

Love the poinsettias this year. This is something new that I decided to try.

I love the red flowers against the yellow living room walls.

And the snowflake punches. Totally digging the snowflake punches

Happy Day 6!

December Daily 2011-Day 5

2011-12-07T22:20:00.001-06:00

Elizabeth with Pudge in the Santa Costume. Poor Pudgey…

Holiday Sangria at Ruby Tuesdays (I actually took the photo on Saturday)

It was soooo tasty! I used a white gel pen to write on the photo.

Elizabeth found the 1952 version of Rudolph on Netflix, so we watched several of the old clips, including “babies crying.” It’s so funny that she still loves watching it.

Happy Day 5!

December Daily 2011-Day 4

2011-12-06T17:46:00.001-06:00

Day 4 starts with some journaling that I wrote to go along with a photo I had took of my “puppy”. She is getting older and I wanted to journal about how special she is to me and how much I love her.

Isn’t she sweet?

On Day 4, I journaled about the day and what we did.

Decorating the tree and watching Christmas movies-my favorite Christmas traditions

Happy Day 4!!

December Daily 2011-Day 3

2011-12-05T23:23:00.001-06:00

Day 3! I had to scraplift this idea with the canvas star and the Tim Holtz number from Ali Edwards’ DD!

I had a star from the stash that my sister Sarah gave me and it fit nicely on the back to cover up the brads on the number 3.

Closeup.

One of the reindeer from a Tim Holtz die cut out of sticky-back canvas. {Love}

The house is finally beginning to look a bit like Christmas!

A collection of “around the house” photos from the week.

I am beginning to really get in the spirit of the holidays. We have been watching LOTS of Christmas movies and drinking hot chocolate and eggnog. All of my favorites!

Happy Day 3!

December Daily 2011-Day 2

2011-12-05T20:29:00.001-06:00

Day 2!

Now that I’m looking at this, I think it could use a couple of photos, so I may add a couple of photos later on.

After our meeting with the Associate Principle.

{I am NOT happy.}

Going out to dinner together to celebrate another great year at work. Yay!

Around the House, #1.

I love taking photos around the house. And I love the little Polaroids!

Happy Day 2!

December Daily 2011-Day 1

2011-12-05T20:21:00.001-06:00

Yay! Finally Posting my December Daily

Loving the 6x8.5 inch templates from Ali Edwards here.

Also totally loving the December Daily stamps from Ali and Technique Tuesday. Actually, I’m loving stamping with ALL of the stamps. I haven’t done this much stamping in a long time.

I saw this idea on Ali’s blog using the snowflake punch that I just bought at Michaels (Martha Stewart). I love how it turned out. Seriously, it was fun to just play around with the punch

So-day 1 was interesting. I had picked William up from school on Thursday afternoon and I was working from home when the phone rang and I got to talk to the Associate Principal about Bryan. And then when I started working on my Daily, I saw this Naughty flashcard and it jumped right out at me…

Good times…

Finally, the card. It went out early this year, so I actually get to post it this year.

Happy Day 1! More coming soon!

JYC Day 1 & The Manifesto 2011

2011-12-01T22:56:00.001-06:00

I love this Journal Your Christmas card from Shimelle’s JYC class. In fact, I was so excited last night that I printed it off as soon as I got the email and created this page.

I pretty much just grabbed several things that I had on hand and already printed out and ready to go. The Tim Holtz santa stamp is one of my favorites this year.

I love Christmas and the Christmas season.

And it is the most wonderful time of the year

The Manifesto: I love the manifesto this year. It is so perfect.

I had to make some glitter stars using Martha glitter and Jenni Bowlin chipboard stars after the inspiration from the awesome Tim Holtz tag today!

All the things that make Christmas awesome!

Happy December First!

Yay! December Daily is almost here!

2011-11-30T22:54:00.001-06:00

Okay-I can’t wait any longer. Time to start posting photos from around the house. I found these glittery reindeer in the “dollar” spot at Target. I grabbed two and am hoping to use them as part of my centerpiece for Christmas dinner. And I haven’t had poinsettias for years. Thought I would try them for a little bit of red.

And next…my favorite puzzles. I have the kids mix them up for me and then I sit and work on them (in my “free” time )

I don’t know what I’m most excited about tonight-December Daily, Journal Your Christmas, or Tim Holtz’s “12 tags of Christmas!”

Happy December First!! Hope yours is Crafty!

Thanksgiving 2011 Part II

2011-11-29T21:01:00.001-06:00

Chopping celery for dressing.

Bryan eating the leftover celery.

Elizabeth is journaling.

Mom and I.

Snacks!

Elizabeth and I.

Isabella and Grandma laughing!

Sweet potatoes!

Standing in the rain. Preparing for a redneck Thanksgiving.

The lean-to was a success.

Taking a picture!

Choking Matt.

My sweetie.

Jakey, Patricia, and Isabella.

Sari and Russ!

Girls!

All the Girls!!

Holding Isabella.

Sari!

Two-fisted drinking.

I’m not sure what this was. But it’s funny.

Katie and Jeremy!

Elizabeth and Bryan and Isabella.

Playing with the baby.

We had a great Thanksgiving!

Happy Wednesday!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-28T22:32:00.001-06:00

My new favorite Thanksgiving Tradition-taking photos of just us kids.

Sisters first. (And I came sooo close to wearing my plum sweater. We would totally have all been matching).

All four of us.

Love this!

And this one.

Really love this one!

And this one.

I’m not sure I really have a favorite.

Because these pretty much all sum up what our family gatherings are like.

Except that Kate isn’t really a floating head

Happy Tuesday!

Turkey Dinner at Home

2011-11-25T11:52:00.001-06:00

Yum!

Goofy

Suave

Sweet

Family around the table.

Together. That is the most important part of the holidays.

The table is all cleared off. Happens twice a year

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thankful

2011-11-23T19:02:00.001-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving! I am sooo looking forward to spending time with family this weekend and eating some turkey!

Since it is Thanksgiving, I want to share some things that I am thankful for this year:

1. Modern Medicine for allowing me to have my gall bladder removed so quickly and expertly.

2. Health Insurance for footing the majority of the bill.

3. A bonus this year that will cover the amount that we owe.

4. A speedy recovery.

Have a fabulous Thanksgiving!

Getting Ready 2011-December Daily and JYC

2011-11-23T09:02:00.001-06:00

I love the new Ali Edwards stamps from Technique Tuesday. I am loving being in the club and automatically getting these lovely stamps in the mail every month. The night that I got them I was playing with them and my husband asked me, “Have you used all of those stamps already?” And I replied, “Yes…I have to try them out and see how they work .” So this stamp is on the inside front cover of my December Daily.

I love art journaling. And this year I am doing my Journal Your Christmas (Shimelle’s Class) album as an art journal. And I am way excited. I have been prepping my art journaling skills.

I have also been playing with Ali’s Designer Digital templates. I have new ink and new photo paper. Next was to figure out how I was going to make sure that they print correctly. This sheet actually printed slightly smaller than the others, but that’s okay because I think I will probably be adhering the photo templates to the back of the date templates in most cases.

I also used a bit of her “Messy Little Christmas” stamps/brushes on the photo for a finishing touch.

The first thing I did was touch up the photo a little. I had taken the photo at night with a flash and it was underexposed just a bit. Really, I just made the white a little more white. Then I dropped the photo into the template. I recolored the .png file white and added it to the photo. Because I really really do <3 Christmas. And I saved it as a .jpg when it was finished.

Then-to make sure that it prints correctly, I opened a new 8.5x11 sheet and dropped the .jpg of the template onto that sheet and saved it as the “print ready” version of my template. This keeps me from accidentally printing it out and having the whole thing print out at 8.5 x 11. I really dislike wasting ink!

Next-I used various things laying around on my kitchen table to make an art journal page. (Just flexing my art journaling muscles

These trees are just triangles that I cut out and put glitter on a few years ago. They have been moving around my studio waiting for a home…

I used LOTS of the Ali Edwards November stamps. And I LOVE the vintage santa from Tim Holtz. And the Martha Stewart snowflakes. Well I just love everything that I used on this page really.

And I’m excited about journaling on the pages once I have them created.

Is it Dec 1st yet?

Happy Wednesday!!

Sunday-Chicago Bears Day

2011-11-21T22:54:00.001-06:00

I’ve been playing around with my camera settings to practice my technique and focus for December Daily photo taking.

I have been taking lots of photos of inanimate objects so I was super excited when Bryan came home from a friends’ house so that I could take photos of him

And Ralph always makes a handsome subject.

Happy Chicago Bears’ Day!!

And let’s just ignore the fact that Jay Cutler is having surgery on his throwing thumb. Because frankly…that just sucks. Big time.

Blast from the Past-1976

2011-11-20T19:38:00.001-06:00

I have probably posted these before, but I am loving getting into the spirit of Christmas right now and I’m thinking about what memories and stories I want to share in my December Daily/Journal Your Christmas journals this year.

Curious George! And I LOVE the hand made ornaments on the tree.

Barbie!

And Lite Brite!

Happy Monday!!

Blast from the Past 2009

2011-11-17T18:28:00.001-06:00

Ho ho ho…ho ho ho…we are Santa’s Elves…ho ho.

Family photo

Merlin looks so festive!

Jake and Patricia!

Happy Friday!!

Blast from the Past-2000

2011-11-16T16:14:00.001-06:00

It is so hard to stop once you start going through old photos! I love this!

I can’t believe how many photos I have of all 3 kids in the photo. Trying to get them all in one photo now is like pulling teeth!

And I remember this day. The older 2 kids were at school and Bryan and I were at home and it snowed just enough to make a tiny snowman!

I’m so glad that I captured the moment!

Happy Wednesday night and Thursday!

Blast from the Past-2009

2011-11-15T20:30:00.001-06:00

There is nothing better than family at Christmastime.

Except maybe a Hallmark Star Trek communicator ornament…

I am sooooo excited for the Christmas Season!

Blast from the Past-2005

2011-11-14T20:23:00.001-06:00

This seems like forever ago. But it was only 6 years ago. Wow.

Building snowmen in the yard at our old house.

They look so little here.

And they have grown so much older now.

And so much has changed. I believe this is a snow bunny.

And I love how Elizabeth was always building forts and tents.

So sweet and so grown up now!

Getting into the spirit of the season!

{And I’m a little bit ready for some snow!}

Happy Tuesday!

Getting into the Spirit

2011-11-12T19:46:00.001-06:00

New haircut! I have to take a photo every time I get a new haircut in case I get a cut that I LOVE and need to take a photo in to my hairdresser.

Bringing out a handful of decorations.

Picking up a couple of new decorations.

Decorating our bedroom for the holidays.

Ralph looks pretty bored here, but later in the day he was rolling all over the bed and snuggling up. He likes the new comforter, but it doesn’t smell enough like him yet.

Happy Saturday!!

Happy Birthday, Mom!!

2011-11-09T20:43:00.001-06:00

Happy Birthday, Mom!

59!!

Just one more year until you’re 60!!

We love you!!

And your Mom face

Mom & Kate 2011

2011-11-08T20:27:00.001-06:00

Coming home on the tractor.

Sharp dresser in a new flannel.

Happy Birthday!

Mom

Bryan: “Now that’s a profile pic!”

Cute.

Kate & Jeremy!

Heh heh…Now that…is a Dad face…so I said, “Okay, now your normal face, Jake.”

and I got this…

All mine.

Isabella loved Aunt Jo.

Happy Birthday, Kate!

Presents!

And finally, the “you’re interrupting the Packer game so please stop taking my picture” smile.

We had a seriously fun time in Illinois celebrating Mom and Kate’s Birthday. I can’t wait until Thanksgiving!!

Happy Wednesday!

Happy Digital Scrapbooking Day 2011

2011-11-05T08:48:00.001-05:00

Supplies: Template-StudioDD_LayerWorksNo73 available here, Cardstock-KPertiet_SnowPushersSolids available here, Font-Traveling Typewriter (dafont.com)

In honor of Digital Scrapbooking Day, I dropped a photo into this template and added a background paper and some journaling. Voila!

That is the best part of Digital Scrapbooking-it can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it. I wish I could make myself do it all the time-so much more simple and cheaper. But I really LOVE playing with paper and supplies too much.

Happy Digital Scrapbooking Day!

Getting into the Spirit

2011-11-05T06:59:00.001-05:00

Kicking off the official start to the Christmas Shopping Season!

The Carousel is so beautiful!

Christmas socks!

And some serious pine tree scent!!

Love this bag!

Holiday Hand Soap!

Holiday Hand Soap Cover!

And a new sweater or two.

Happy Saturday!

JYC-Sneakpeak

2011-11-03T16:13:00.001-05:00

I created the cover for my Journal Your Christmas Album.

You can read more about Shimelle’s Journal Your Christmas class here. This will be my second year following along with Shimelle’s JYC class. I loved receiving the prompts everyday last year.

This year, I decided to use a spiral scrapbook that my sister (thanks, Sari ) gave me along with a tote full of things that she didn’t want to use anymore. (Well…she didn’t want to use it at the time. Hope she doesn’t change her mind ) Anyway, the scrapbook had a navy blue cover. I removed the front cover, painted it pink, and replaced it.

Then I grabbed a handful of things from my December Daily container and used them for decorating.

For now, I’m working on gessoing the interior pages. I may also paint them. My plan for this album is to treat it like an art journal. We’ll see. I think that was what last year’s JYC album was meant to be and I ended up making it a second “december daily!” Thanks for looking and enjoy!

Happy Friday!!

December Daily Base Pages 2011-Part II

2011-11-02T19:03:00.001-05:00

Okay-last page first! I think this is my favorite page besides the cover.

(If you missed Part I, you can find it here.)

I didn’t post all of the photos because I started to realize that mostly the second half of the daily looks exactly like the first half.

and I can’t wait

to fill it up with family

and Christmas spirit goodness!

I love this reindeer paper-so cute!

So there it is! The base of my december daily is finished and ready to go.

Now…if only I could find those punches that I bought on clearance after Christmas that totally disappeared…

Happy Thursday!

December Daily Base Pages 2011-Part I

2011-11-01T17:56:00.001-05:00

It’s the most wonderful time…of the year! December Daily time-I am soooo excited to share! I love December Daily and this is my favorite time of the year. I decided to go along with the same template size that Ali Edwards’ is using this year (8.5x6 inches) to keep things simple. I had originally planned to create a different cover for the Daily, but I loved how this page turned out (this was originally supposed to be my intro page, but I loved the color and design so I decided to keep it as my cover). You can read more about Ali’s December Daily on her blog here.

I am using a lot of Elle’s studio tags, snowflake punches, and various other things that I’ve picked up throughout the month of October.

I love that Ali added a red printable for the 6x8.5 pages this year.

And I decided to use them for every day (days 1-25) this year instead of just for a few days.

I am also using some of the baseball card protectors cut into 2x2.

I’m also looking forward to using some of the Tim Holtz dies in my December Daily too.

Traditional colors

Love these colors.

and the lovely vintage colors on this page.

and this one.

I had originally planned to make something else with the silver snowflakes that I punched out, but they went so well with the colors in the december daily that I decided to use them all.

That’s all for the first 12 pages-not terribly exciting, but I’m really excited to have the base of the album created so that I don’t have to worry about it in December. Woot!

Update: You can see the second half of the December Daily Base photos here.

Happy December Daily part 1!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T18:58:00.001-05:00

(Photoshop brushes are Ali Edwards available at Designer Digitals.)

Have a very happy and spooky Halloween.

Tomorrow I will be posting part 1 of my december daily

I can’t wait!

Happy Halloween!

Glitter Pumpkins, Carving Party, and Fall Favorites

2011-10-30T20:56:00.001-05:00

I got a little crazy today and had to dig out my glitter to make some glitter gourds for Halloween.

It started with Deborah letting us make a glitter gourd last night at the carving party. I am now hooked.

Soooo beautiful. Martha Stewart has the best ideas.

Bill carving his pumpkin.

Bill carved the haunted house on the left and I carved the Pirate. We had an awesome time drinking pumpkin beer and carving pumpkins at Paul and Deborah’s!

These are the pumpkins that were created. Awesome!

Simon showing Paul where he wanted his Mr. Potato Head pieces.

And the finished Mr. Pumpkin Head!

Shimelle’s amazing pumpkin cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. Mmmm…

Ghosties!

Apple Pie

Martha Stewart Sugar Cookie cutouts with the amazing cinnamon cream cheese frosting. Mmm…

I love Fall.

Happy Sunday!

Tanners Layout 2011

2011-10-29T10:54:00.001-05:00

I had to create a layout about our annual trip to Tanner’s this year using the awesome Ali Edwards’ Technique Tuesday October Stamps. I love how these turned out.

Happy Saturday!

Halloween Vignette

2011-10-28T07:49:00.001-05:00

I created this vignette with some thing that I have been collecting and $4.00 worth of finds at the Dollar Tree. It is actually based on a vignette that I printed from a website last year-I THINK it was from BHG.com. I am missing the chalkboard, which I hope to have finished soon.

I bought the typewriter at an antique store last year and the books at Barnes & Noble last year on Halloween. The raven, sign, goblet, and bust are all from dollar tree. The pumpkin is from Walmart

Pretty creepy, huh?

I thought I would share with you. This area has pretty much been my only view since having my gallbladder removed last Friday and I decided that it was the perfect place to create a Halloween Vignette.

Happy Friday!

Halloween Configurations Box

2011-10-26T17:53:00.000-05:00

I started this configurations box last Halloween. It was originally supposed to be a Christmas box. Then my Mom got me another Configurations box for Christmas and I ended up using that one for Christmas instead. In the meantime, I have been collecting various Halloween items for the last year in a box marked, “Halloween".” So, one year later, I finally finished it! (Before Halloween, I might add ).

My favorite part is the box with all of the skulls. I was so excited when I found the box of skulls at Michaels…that was probably a little weird…but anyway…

Happy early Halloween!

Sunday Healing & Football

2011-10-24T09:18:00.001-05:00

There is nothing better than a visit from friends and family to make you heal faster. First, flowers from Mom. Love these Fall colors.

Hugs from my Mom and Sister Kate.

Ralphy snuggling up close.

Snuggling with my husband and watching football and visiting. Feeling better, but still hurting and ready to be well soon. At least that pesty gallbladder and those stones are gone!

Happy Monday!

Halloween Decorating

2011-10-20T19:09:00.001-05:00

Cute Ghosty

Halloween ornament-practicing for Christmas

Scary Ghosty

Beanie halloween from Mom for the kids one year (this is one of my favorites)

Cute

Gratitude.

Indian Corn décor.

So I have an evening to breathe and prepare myself between procedures on my gallbladder (which comes out tomorrow-yay!) and I wanted to post about Halloween. Once I realized that I couldn’t eat ANYTHING, I felt much better. Tuesday I felt pretty good and had time to tidy up a little in the dining room to decorate for Halloween.

Hoping for a quick and easy gallbladder removal tomorrow with no complications.

Happy Friday!

Family Photos

2011-10-18T21:05:00.001-05:00

Note: All photos were taken by Olan Mills and they maintain the copyright.

Love the family photo. This is the photo that goes in the Church Directory. Because behind every family photo is a great story about how it is nearly impossible to get everyone together at the same time. And then there is the story about how everyone is ticked off and wants to leave and I make them wait until I have chosen all of the right photos AND not spend a bazillion dollars. And why do we put up with all that? Because this will be the ONLY time (I’m pretty sure) that we will get all 5 of us together in a professional family photo.

Love having all 3 kids in a photo together. Not hurting each other. Just this once.

And the two of us. Love this one too. Our first real photo.

Bryan

William

Elizabeth

Daddy

And the photo that will go on the wall in the living room. Once I buy frames.

Happy Wednesday!

Illinois Inspiration

2011-10-12T20:25:00.001-05:00

Purple

Yellow Mums

Purple and Pink

Pine Cone

Maroon Mums

Another pine cone.

Acorns

Fall

Leaves

Fall decor

Trees

Barns (I love the ric-rac look below the windows)

Corn

Pumpkins

more pumpkins

Mums-all sizes, shapes, and colors.

More pics from the weekend coming soon.

Happy Thursday!

Morning Glories

2011-10-11T20:55:00.001-05:00

This is my favorite time of year for the morning glories.

And pumpkins of course.

And pooches.

Ralph humored me by letting me take a few photos of him.

Doesn’t he look lies he’s posing?

Um…are we almost done?

The morning glories are in their best form right now.

Now he is just bored.

This is my favorite time of year.

Happy Wednesday!

Weekend Pics

2011-10-09T22:21:00.001-05:00

The sure cure for headaches in front of the computer screen is to take a trip back home for the weekend.

And that is just what we did. (And it worked).

Bryan had fun.

Daddy had fun.

There is an interesting story here. I don’t believe it is appropriate for the blog.

Luckily, Bella arrived and Daddy fell asleep. Which was probably for the best.

Love how this photo turned out.

Bella had fun playing on the floor.

And she tried carrots for the first time. (And we got to see it

The first bite was okay, but after that she wasn’t too impressed. But she sure is cute!

Not too sure about the sun in her face at Tanners.

Hanging out with Aunt Kate.

Elizabeth, Matt and Bryan in the pumpkins.

Kate and Jeremy.

And the crazy couple…

We had an awesome weekend visiting and buying cider donuts, apple fritters, blueberry muffins and…um…eating them...

Happy Monday!

Football Over the Years-Bryan

2011-10-08T07:40:00.001-05:00

I can’t believe how long Bryan has been playing football! This one is from 7th grade.

4th grade.

It doesn’t seem possible that Bryan was ever this small.

He’s so cute!

5th grade!

And we were younger

6th Grade!

So professional looking.

And handsome.

Freezing cold watching them win!

3rd grade. So adorable.

The best part of digital photography is taking 20 minutes to find 6 years worth of photos . I know he played football in 1st and 2nd grade, but that may have preceded my photo organizational skills because I was unable to find those.

Happy Weekend!

Last Football Game of 8th Grade

2011-10-06T20:49:00.001-05:00

Warmups

Looking to see where the QB is at before the shotgun snap.

Go Rams!

It was a tough first game.

Hanging out on the sideline while the defense is on the field.

Love the coach on the sideline. He clearly wasn’t happy about something.

On defense during the second game.

Saying something to Brandon about the other team.

The first game was tough: they lost 28-0. But the second game went better. The Rams won 26-8!

Go Rams! and Happy Friday!